"This cut’s my favourite; it’s like butter,” says our personal chef over the sizzle of barbecuing striploin.
She’s wrong, though; it’s not like butter at all. It’s even softer. This I could spread on bread without tearing gaping holes into my sandwich.
I don’t even need to chew, I can simply swallow it whole like a pelican.
Nuri Grill & Bar on Yas Bay Waterfront is the UAE’s newest South Korean restaurant – and my third in as many months after Dubai’s Hoe Lee Kow and Gimi.
As the rise of K-food shows no slowing down, I am first in line to try the latest addition.
Where to sit and what to expect
Nuri is grand and painfully cool thanks to a monochrome interior of dark tabletops, crisp white lines and little bursts of shiny copper detailing.
Particular praise must be reserved for staff who, merely days after opening, run smoother than an 80-person orchestra and an in-house DJ provides the soundtrack to their efficiency.
My dining partner and I make a beeline for the terrace during a wave of “Welcome,” and a cheek-busting smile from the bartender.
There, sumptuous views over the water, Al Raha Beach and beyond await.
The menu
Too often restaurants try to appease every appetite only to harm their own identity. I don’t want to go to an Italian restaurant and order ceviche.
Lamb cutlets at a Thai place? Behave. And the less said about sushi pizza, the better.
When trying a new cuisine, why hide out in the safety of the burger section rather than dive right into the weird and wonderful names?
Galbi tang, Nuri haejang guk, dongchimi guksu, bibim guksu. I’m in, unless any of it means brains … a hard lesson learnt during a point-and-eat afternoon in Tunisia.
Nuri sticks to its guns with a menu that is dominated by South Korean cooking. Admittedly, there are eyebrow-raisers on the last page, such as tacos and corn dogs, but I’m told the latter is as prevalent on Seoul’s streets as it is at American funfairs.
Grilled meats are the stars of the show here – although vegetarians, pescatarians and those who don’t eat red meat are well catered to.
There is a 12-course omakase-style menu, too, where chefs serve whatever they fancy.
Our table comes with a shiny new copper grill attached, so it feels fitting to make the most of it.
The Butcher’s Feast section of the menu offers starters, cuts of meat cooked tableside, soups, salads, sides and desserts.
We opt for the four-cut package and, at Dh250 a person, it’s exceptional value for a restaurant of this standing.
Within minutes, our table turns into a banquet as three bowls of ban-chan (pickled seasonal vegetables including two types of radish and one of onion) are joined by a salad of mixed greens and gochujang (red chilli paste) vinaigrette; lettuce with ssam-jang (a sauce of fermented soybeans and chilli paste); egg souffle and seaweed broth; spicy kimchi stew; and rice.
They’re joined by a plate for the grill including the four cuts and vegetables of mushrooms, asparagus and aubergine.
To finish, there’s a plate of seasonings – two dipping sauces, freshly grated wasabi, wasabi powder and four types of salt.
Head chef Roy Kim even brings out an overflowing bowl of his version of tteokbokki (spelt ddukbokki on Nuri’s menu), a South Korean street food staple of rice cylinders coated in sauce.
It’s like a personal buffet and I don’t have to go elbow to elbow with strangers. I don’t even have to leave my seat.
As a different chef comes over to sear the meats – we have ribeye cap and roll, galbi (short rib) and striploin (chef’s butter-soft favourite) – we dig in.
It’s a volley of flavours, with the fiery tofu and fishcake stew complemented by the sharp pickled radishes and the syrupy tteokbokki sauce.
The souffle is enormous and helps temper the heat.
The rest is a wild ride of texture and taste – acidity, sweetness, charring from the steak, roaring spice from the wasabi, crunch from the palette-cleansing salad sticks and top-of-the-mouth zinginess from the fermented kimchi.
By the time the snow bingsu dessert – red bean and coconut-topped ice shaved so finely it looks like iron filings, but morphs into frozen cream on the tongue – arrives, my taste buds are in overdrive.
And I’ll be back with a grin bigger than the barman’s.
Standout dish
Steaks on a plane grill with four types of salt to season at will are the knockout dish of the night.
Even though I count 17 different plates, bowls, griddles and pots on our table at one point, it’s the four cuts of prime beef that rise above them all.
A chat with the chef
Chef Roy is from South Korea and has refined his passion for pan-Asian food at many of Dubai’s best-known venues including Asia Asia, Karma Kafe and the Armani Hotel.
He’s been in professional kitchens for almost 20 years. Translation? He adores soy sauce. “It’s my go-to ingredient,” he tells me.
“I try to incorporate it in every dish. Not only does soy sauce play an extremely important role in the taste of a dish, but it is also an indispensable ingredient in Asian cuisine.”
As a result, for carnivorous diners, he recommends the galbi jjim – a popular dish during the festive season, which is braised short ribs with soy sauce and various ingredients slowly cooked for three hours.
For seafood lovers, he suggests the flatfish sourced from South Korea; the japchae stir-fried noodles for vegetarians; and the brilliant binsu for dessert.
Price point and contact information
Small plates range from Dh50 to Dh100; mains range from Dh70 to Dh240; meat cuts start at Dh100 for 150g; and desserts range from Dh50 to Dh55. The Butcher's Feast set menu starts at Dh200.
Nuri Bar & Grill is open from noon to midnight from Sunday to Wednesday, and noon to 2am from Thursday to Saturday. Reservations can be made by contacting 054 211 5151.
This review was conducted at the invitation of the restaurant
How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers
Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.
It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.
The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.
Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.
Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.
He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.
AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”
A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.
Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.
Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.
Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.
By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.
Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.
In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”
Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.
She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.
Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
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Student Of The Year 2
Director: Punit Malhotra
Stars: Tiger Shroff, Tara Sutaria, Ananya Pandey, Aditya Seal
1.5 stars
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Trump v Khan
2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
TWISTERS
Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Starring: Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Anthony Ramos
Rating: 2.5/5
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
Most sought after workplace benefits in the UAE
- Flexible work arrangements
- Pension support
- Mental well-being assistance
- Insurance coverage for optical, dental, alternative medicine, cancer screening
- Financial well-being incentives
Heather, the Totality
Matthew Weiner,
Canongate
THE SPECS
Engine: 3.5-litre supercharged V6
Power: 416hp at 7,000rpm
Torque: 410Nm at 3,500rpm
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Fuel consumption: 10.2 l/100km
Price: Dh375,000
On sale: now
ZAYED SUSTAINABILITY PRIZE
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Skoda Superb Specs
Engine: 2-litre TSI petrol
Power: 190hp
Torque: 320Nm
Price: From Dh147,000
Available: Now
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
Match info
Newcastle United 1
Joselu (11')
Tottenham Hotspur 2
Vertonghen (8'), Alli (18')
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
Teams
Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals
Where to buy art books in the UAE
There are a number of speciality art bookshops in the UAE.
In Dubai, The Lighthouse at Dubai Design District has a wonderfully curated selection of art and design books. Alserkal Avenue runs a pop-up shop at their A4 space, and host the art-book fair Fully Booked during Art Week in March. The Third Line, also in Alserkal Avenue, has a strong book-publishing arm and sells copies at its gallery. Kinokuniya, at Dubai Mall, has some good offerings within its broad selection, and you never know what you will find at the House of Prose in Jumeirah. Finally, all of Gulf Photo Plus’s photo books are available for sale at their show.
In Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi has a beautiful selection of catalogues and art books, and Magrudy’s – across the Emirates, but particularly at their NYU Abu Dhabi site – has a great selection in art, fiction and cultural theory.
In Sharjah, the Sharjah Art Museum sells catalogues and art books at its museum shop, and the Sharjah Art Foundation has a bookshop that offers reads on art, theory and cultural history.
Ten10 Cricket League
Venue and schedule Sharjah Cricket Stadium, December 14 to 17
Teams
Maratha Arabians Leading player: Virender Sehwag; Top picks: Mohammed Amir, Imad Wasim; UAE players: Shaiman Anwar, Zahoor Khan
Bengal Lions Leading player: Sarfraz Ahmed; Top picks: Sunil Narine, Mustafizur Rahman; UAE players: Mohammed Naveed, Rameez Shahzad
Kerala Kings Leading player: Eoin Morgan; Top picks: Kieron Pollard, Sohail Tanvir; UAE players: Rohan Mustafa, Imran Haider
Pakhtoons Leading player: Shahid Afridi; Top picks: Fakhar Zaman, Tamim Iqbal; UAE players: Amjad Javed, Saqlain Haider
Punjabi Legends Leading player: Shoaib Malik; Top picks: Hasan Ali, Chris Jordan; UAE players: Ghulam Shabber, Shareef Asadullah
Team Sri Lanka Cricket Will be made up of Colombo players who won island’s domestic limited-overs competition
Women’s World T20, Asia Qualifier
UAE results
Beat China by 16 runs
Lost to Thailand by 10 wickets
Beat Nepal by five runs
Beat Hong Kong by eight wickets
Beat Malaysia by 34 runs
Standings (P, W, l, NR, points)
1. Thailand 5 4 0 1 9
2. UAE 5 4 1 0 8
3. Nepal 5 2 1 2 6
4. Hong Kong 5 2 2 1 5
5. Malaysia 5 1 4 0 2
6. China 5 0 5 0 0
Final
Thailand v UAE, Monday, 7am
